Evan Bouchard gets his first taste of a real NHL game

Goteborg, Sweden — As expected, Edmonton Oilers defenceman Ethan Bear drew the short straw Saturday and will be flying back to Boston with the NHL club Sunday but he’ll have to hop another flight clear across the country to Bakersfield after being farmed to the AHL club.

With Kris Russell activated off injured reserve for the game against the New Jersey Devils, the Oilers had 24 players on their roster, one over the maximum allowed, and Bear was sent to Bakersfield because he doesn’t have to clear waivers. That leaves them with seven defencemen.

The Oilers could have opted to put defenceman Jason Garrison or winger Alex Chiasson on waivers instead but decided Bear was the easier move. He can slide in beside his old AHL partner Caleb Jones on the farm.

Bear had an excellent camp but he lost out to first-round draft Evan Bouchard, another right-shot defender, for the third-pairing job with Russell.

Bouchard, who played 13:57, became the 33rd player to play his first NHL game overseas.

“He got better as the night went on. A little apprehensive to begin with, but he started to make some plays. I’ve said it before that young players almost have to give themselves permission to play without fear. The game was much quicker than we saw in exhibition season, less time to make plays and if we dressed six (defencemen) I didn’t think Bouch was a the bottom,” said Oilers’ coach Todd McLellan.

REALITY CHECK

The Oilers rolled through pre-season losing one in eight games but this was a reality check. So do they just throw this one in the trash-can and start over in Boston Thursday?

“No, we’re not writing any games off,” said McLellan. “The pre-season is way different from regular season, we all know that. We can’t pretend to hide that.”

“They came at us in waves, in groups of five. Below the goal-line they pressured hard, they pressured the half-wall and we could never come out of our zone clean so we could generate any speed through the neutral zone. Very tough night offensively and defensively, he said.

The Oilers power play that was worst in the league last season, was semi dangerous. “It wouldn’t be too bad if we batted .250 on the season. We didn’t create many opportunities but we got one on our first try. If we can get a goal a night on the power play, that’s 82 and we’ll take that,” In the four PP’s they only had the one shot and a goal by Lucic. And that came off a bolt up ice by Connor McDavid to feed Lucic; there was no real set-up and pressure after that.

YOUNG AND HUNGRY

Travis Zajac, the elder statesman of the Devils at 33 years, said post-game that a couple of years ago Jersey would never have been considered for a European trip.

But they’re young and hungry, although Zajac was their best forward. He won 15 of 21 face-offs and had three shpts. Both goals came from the great wheels of Miles Wood. “Miles’s speed makes up for my slowness,” joked Zajac.

“Travis is a really smart player and Miles is high energy,” said Devils’ coach John Hynes.

DEFENSIVE ICON

Seven-time Norris trophy winner Nick Lidstrom was at the rink Saturday morning, coming up from his home in Vasteras 475 km away to do some Swedish TV work. When he was standing behind the Oilers bench, the players were almost like school-kids.

If they’d had their cellphones, they’d have been taking selfies.

“There’s Nick Lidstrom,” said an impressed Lucic.

“I think he could still walk the (blue) line.”

Lidstrom, 48, doesn’t look like he’s gained a pound since retiring in 2012 after 20 NHL seasons. He only missed 42 games in those two decades in Detroit. Nobody was more durable and he was the most positionally sound defenceman of all time.

Lidstrom is one of the four best NHL defencemen ever with Bobby Orr, Doug Harvey and Ray Bourque (27 Norris trophies), but bided his time before coming to the NHL. He didn’t come to Detroit until he was 21, unlike the generational talent Rasmus Dahlin, the first pick in the 2017 draft by Buffalo. Dahlin, who played in Goteborg last year for Frolunda, is only 18, and the NHL glare is fully on the defenceman.

“I stayed back and played three years against men over here, in a world championship, in a World Cup before I came to the National Hockey League,” said Lidstrom.

LONG TRIP

The Oilers-Devils game was the 11th regular-season game in Sweden, the first in Goteborg. The Oilers and Devils are the 22nd and 23rd teams to play overseas.

While the Winnipeg Jets and Florida Panthers will play two games in Helsinki Nov. 1-2, the NHL decided one was enough between the Oilers and Devils. Or maybe Edmonton did. This is Jersey’s home game, and the Oilers might not have been crazy about giving up an 18,500 Rogers Place gate to play in the 12,044-seat Scandinavium.

NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly said there were other reasons though. “It’s the length and nature of the trips. The Oilers and Devils agreed to have a portion of their training camps overseas and each team played a friendly against a local team, the Oilers in Cologne and the Devils in Bern, Switzerland,” said Daly.

“We didn’t feel a need to load in two regular-season games.”

JERSEY CITY

Martin Brodeur, who was Team Canada’s GM at this past spring’s world championship, certainly got his eyes opened to the passion for the games in Europe. “Here, they’re able to see their own star players at home and some of the superstars like Connor McDavid and Taylor Hall,” said the Jersey VP of business..

“I know you see a lot of people with NHL jerseys on outside the rink.”

Any Brodeurs? “Yeah, I saw a couple out there … I didn’t see many Kenny Daneykos,” joked Brodeur of his long-time Devils’ teammate.

THIS ’N’ THAT

The illustrious hometown Frolunda Indians HC sent Daniel Alfressson, Erik Karlsson and Henrik Lundqvist to the NHL … Winger Patrik Elias, who had his No. 26 retired with the Devils last February, was at the game Saturday with friends. He’ll be an assistant coach of the Czech world junior team in Vancouver and Victoria over Christmas break … Oilers ambassador Ron Low, who had been the tour guide for 100 Edmonton fans, was looking for some medicine before the game. “Bronchitis,” said Low, who was at the game with ex Oilers Freddie Olausson and Mike Zanier.

This Week's Flyers

Comments

We encourage all readers to share their views on our articles and blog posts. We are committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion, so we ask you to avoid personal attacks, and please keep your comments relevant and respectful. If you encounter a comment that is abusive, click the "X" in the upper right corner of the comment box to report spam or abuse. We are using Facebook commenting. Visit our FAQ page for more information.